Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu avoided directly answering questions about an Israeli ground action in Gaza to augment the four days of air strikes, which have not stopped the Hamas rocket blitz. In his first televised news conference Friday, the prime ministers said only: “We have prepared all the options and there is much more that we can and will do - until Hamas stops shooting missiles and peace is restored to Israeli citizens. As he spoke, Iron Dome intercepted a rocket salvo over Tel Aviv and its environs. Fragments fell to the ground in Rishon Lezion.

Netanyahu stressed the importance of territory. “Now we are dealing with the Gaza Strip,” he said. He clearly had the West Bank in mind, especially in view of the Islamist offensives around Israel’s borders.